I'm with Shawnsta...but what this really tells me is that McCarthy and Capers had no idea as to what they were facing. Now, In the season opener with the 9'ers, when tattoo-boy took off on that 17 yard run to keep a drive alive...followed by the benching of Smith later in the season, I had bad dreams about what could happen given the Pack's inability to contain off their defensive left side. It was like an old LSD flashback to the 1970 season when Greg Landry was with the Lions (the Pack lost 2 games by a total of 60-0 to the LOINS that year - I was 12 and had a boyhood dislike for Greg Landry) and it seemed like he'd take off up the middle almost at will. Anyway, I do them credit for trying to educate themselves. Obviously A&M faces teams that run a read/option regularly and has had some success in stopping it via "scheming" - I'm just not sure that A&M runs out of a 3-4 basic.

Also it couldn't hurt for them to watch the Super Bowl game before the lights went out. Ravens D much more easily comparable to our defense then a college one.

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This is from the link to a jsonline blog in the profootballtalk story:

He's (McCarthy) not the first person to reach out to college coaches for help. Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees did the same thing in the two weeks before Super Bowl XLVII and it paid off big dividends.

Unfortunately the Packers played guinea pig twice this season. First to send the replacement refs back to their regular jobs and then to alert the Falcons and Ravens about the dangers of the 49ers pistol/read option plays. Of course the former wasn’t the Packers’ fault and the latter was.

I'm with Shawnsta...but what this really tells me is that McCarthy and Capers had no idea as to what they were facing. Now, In the season opener with the 9'ers, when tattoo-boy took off on that 17 yard run to keep a drive alive...followed by the benching of Smith later in the season, I had bad dreams about what could happen given the Pack's inability to contain off their defensive left side. It was like an old LSD flashback to the 1970 season when Greg Landry was with the Lions (the Pack lost 2 games by a total of 60-0 to the LOINS that year - I was 12 and had a boyhood dislike for Greg Landry) and it seemed like he'd take off up the middle almost at will. Anyway, I do them credit for trying to educate themselves. Obviously A&M faces teams that run a read/option regularly and has had some success in stopping it via "scheming" - I'm just not sure that A&M runs out of a 3-4 basic.

Isn't it something how those really, really, really bad moments stick with you? Like watching Terrell Owens catch a TD right in front of Darren Sharper (later, we just watched "No One is Sharper" follow receivers into the endzone)...like watching Jerry Rice fumble 5 plays prior to that TD and it's not called? That 40-0 game ... my Dad was in the hospital at St Vincent at the time. Had back surgery....and he got physically sick and blew chow watching that game. Hahahaha... he maintained it had nothing to do with the game but I was watching the vein in his forehead starting to protrude -- Phil Bengston had that effect on my Dad.

Isn't it something how those really, really, really bad moments stick with you? Like watching Terrell Owens catch a TD right in front of Darren Sharper (later, we just watched "No One is Sharper" follow receivers into the endzone)...like watching Jerry Rice fumble 5 plays prior to that TD and it's not called? That 40-0 game ... my Dad was in the hospital at St Vincent at the time. Had back surgery....and he got physically sick and blew chow watching that game. Hahahaha... he maintained it had nothing to do with the game but I was watching the vein in his forehead starting to protrude -- Phil Bengston had that effect on my Dad.

The pistol is just lining up, read-option is not tied to the pistol. Stop conflating.

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The operative concept, by whatever name you call it, is that plays are called where the QB puts the ball in the TB's gut and has the option to leave it there or pull it out and run, or alternatively use the run fake in play action. SF, WASH, SEA...they all do it.

Whether it's called pistol or spread option or read option, regardless of the formation variations therein, the key issues defending it remain the same, chiefly the OLBs left betwixt and between without some concerted scheme adjustments.